Realized something - Helping is a great way to earn Difficult or Challenging tests!

Why don’t folks around here say that more? Or do I miss those threads? Seems obvious now that I’ve seen it. Want to “level up” a skill? Help your comrade with THEIR test, earn yourself a tick, relative to your skill.

Or am I reading that wrong? Enlighten me!

Yes! Helping is a smart way to earn ANY kind of test you need.

If you need more Routine tests but your skill is low, go Help your friend with the really high exponent do it. If you need Difficult or Challenging tests, go help your friend with the really low skill.

Chris

Helping a friend who has a high exponent won’t get you routines. Being helped by her will though.

Expanding on Countercheck’s post. Help does a comparison between the helper’s dice and the Ob for purposes of helpers and advancement - re-read Helpers Learn on page 46. In essence, the helper earns a test as if they had rolled against the challenge themselves while the helped earns a test with their larger die pool. That said, help is a great way for people to load up on tests safely, especially if the primary person rolling isn’t eligible for a test (Ob 3, Primary skill 5, helpers all in the 3-4 range).

Helping is key for the Resource shell game—wherein you need successful tests to advance and it is highly unlikely to manage it for Difficult / Challenging tests.

Embarking on business ventures all together is how you boot strap your band of struggling adventurers into the lap of luxury. Especially if you scored your routine tests by going around to make cash dice to help insulate yourselves from the inevitable moment when the dice turn on your like the vicious traitors they are.

Didn’t event think that far - that’s BRILLIANT.

And useful - our current game has our valiant band as the Privy Council for an inept king. One of the issues coming to a head is the the Maintenance check in the middle of the year for the kingdom, and how to have enough to make it. This though, makes things MUCH more interesting…

Helping is an excellent way of earning challenging tests without failing, that’s true! But for those who are suckers for punishment, a touch of hubris also works wonders…

Ideally both. But sometimes on the forums we see the inevitable “But why are the obstacles so high! How do I advance without getting kicked in the groin?” Of course, yes, one should be happy to help AND fail interestingly on the character’s path of advancement. So we agree!